And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. (17) And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
The names in scripture are for the most part significant. It was the custom among God's people (and a very gracious one it was) for parents to name their children after some remarkable providence. Perhaps with this intent, that every time they hooked upon their child, or heard him named, they might have their memory refreshed in the recollection of that special mercy. Thus Hannah's Samuel was so called, because it was an answer to prayer. 1 Samuel 1:20. Places also have furnished our memorandums of God's mercies. Jacob's Bethel and Hagar's well, are eminent instances of the kind. Genesis 16:14; Genesis 16:14.